In Abby Hamilton’s world, superheroes do more than just stop crime and save cats stuck in trees—they also drink milk straight from the carton and hog the television remote. Abby’s older brother moonlights as the famous Red Comet, but without powers of her own, following in his footsteps has never crossed her mind.

That is, until the city’s newest vigilante comes bursting into her life.

After saving Abby from an attempted mugging, Morriston’s fledgling supervillain Iron Phantom convinces her that he’s not as evil as everyone says, and that their city is under a vicious new threat. As Abby follows him deeper into their city’s darkest secrets, she comes to learn that heroes can’t always be trusted, and sometimes it’s the good guys who wear black.

It’s no secret that books go through a million drafts from conception to completion. (Okay, maybe not really a million, but when you’re editing the same paragraphs over and over until your eyes burn it sure feels that way!) I wrote the first baby draft of my novel The Supervillain and Me way back when in 2014, and since then it has gone through seven glorious drafts. I’m so proud of how the story has grown over the years, and it’s only natural that the bright, shiny, published novel of 2018 is a tad bit different than the OG 2014 draft that I wrote while I was still in college. Some things were added, some were condensed, and others were cut completely. In fact, take a look at six of my darlings from The Supervillain and Me that I had to mercilessly kill on the road to publication:

My main character, Abby, doesn’t have superpowers, but that’s completely fine with her because her real talent is musical theatre. During the course of the book, she auditions and takes part in a totally fictional show called Hall of Horrors, which is about a cannibalistic royal family and their servant who falls in love with the crown prince. In the first draft back in 2014, Hall of Horrors didn’t even exist. The musical I used in the story was Little Shop of Horrors, which (fun fact!) was the spring musical I participated in during my senior year of high school. When it came time for The Supervillain and Me to be published, I didn’t want to use a real musical in the book, so I combined Little Shop of Horrors with another show that I was in during high school – Once on This Island – and that’s how Hall of Horrors was born.

Abby’s brother, Connor (AKA the famous superhero Red Comet), is a total Disney movie addict. He still mentions his love of Disney in the published book, but in earlier drafts I had a scene where he was full on rocking out to “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” from Mulan while driving in the car. Unfortunately, there wasn’t room for that scene and it had to be cut, but it will forever live happily in my memory.

Abby’s best friend, Sarah, is the city’s biggest superhero fangirl. She runs a blog, she writes smutty fanfiction, the whole nine yards. A couple years ago, I actually attempted to write some of her highly sexual Red Comet fanfiction. It’s not in the book, I never even suggested to my editor that maybe we should put it in the book, but it exists (sometimes I wish it didn’t)…and it’s not exactly PG or PG-13. So while Sarah’s fanfiction is frequently mentioned throughout The Supervillain and Me, you’ll never be able to read it. You’re welcome.

The “villain” in The Supervillain and Me, Iron Phantom, used to have a serious sparkling cider obsession. I’m not even sure why. Maybe because it seemed like a good contrast to have a criminal be addicted to something that’s bubbly and happy. There was once a scene where he legit popped the cork off a bottle of cider and drank it with Abby, but it got cut. I’m pretty happy about that actually because it didn’t do anything for the story. Instead of cider, Iron Phantom eats a lot of chocolate bars in the published book.

Another scene that got cut involved a high school Halloween party that, while cute and flirty, also didn’t do anything for the story. In its place is now a really fun stakeout scene with Abby and Iron Phantom that is probably one of my favorite scenes in the entire book.

The “big bad” who is causing all kinds of problems throughout the city completely changed from the first draft to the final book. My editor very kindly pointed out that the original villain didn’t make much sense, and after some soul-searching I realized she was right. (Protip: editors are right like 99% of the time.) I don’t want to say anything else because I don’t want to give stuff away, so you’ll just have to read the book to see how it all turns out. 😉

Danielle Banas, a Pittsburgh native, earned a degree in communication from Robert Morris University. After years spent dreaming up characters instead of paying attention in class, Danielle joined the storytelling platform Wattpad, where her work has received millions of views online. When she isn’t writing, she can be found loudly singing show tunes, spouting off Walt Disney World trivia, and snuggling with her puppy. THE SUPERVILLAIN AND ME is her debut novel.